


Free of charges

by Glowing_dimp_as_an_ember



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Mortal AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 09:51:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10637415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowing_dimp_as_an_ember/pseuds/Glowing_dimp_as_an_ember
Summary: He couldn’t help but wonder if the beat he could feel on his ears was the music coming out of the speakers or simply his fast beating heart...





	

Nico wasn’t certain why exactly he had accepted to work at Hot Topic of all places, he could have just easily tried to find a job somewhere else, perhaps even another place where he could receive a better pay and he didn’t have to bear with rather annoying customers asking about stuff they could all easily find out by reading the small letters on the tags of the items on display. The brown eyed would have to give the shop credit though, it was indeed the loudest store in the mall, not only because of the somewhat loud songs that played through the speakers but also due to the kids screaming and shouting at their parents while they grabbed merchandise from multiple sections.

He assumed he was the only one to blame, after all, he could have just easily turn down the offer of working as a cashier, would probably have been less complicated, but the Italian knew, deep down into his soul, that he wouldn’t have ended up doing that, not when Hazel’s birthday was just around the corner and he was in need for money so he could buy his little sister a gift she would enjoy and like. Nico wouldn’t want to ruin the first birthday, at least the first once since she moved with them all to their somehow gloomy house, where their father would be present for all the entirety of the event, especially not with how rare those situations were… The dark haired couldn’t actually recall the last time his dad had done that for him, he guessed that was before his family became the broken home it was at the time.

He let out a quiet sigh as the sound of more scrams reached his ears, quickly followed by the start of the very song he could swear he had heard more than three times in a row. The brown eyed seriously started to wonder if it was just the higher forces of the universe trying to drive him to madness. _Just a couple of more weeks_ , Nico reminded himself mentally, his glance briefly meeting the clock displayed near the cash register, device that showed that barely a minute got to pass since the last time he had decided to find out how many minutes left of torture he had to bear with for the day.

It was all because for a drawing tablet, one he had heard his sister talking about for more than just a mere couple of months, a clear sign that she was pretty much in love with the idea of being able to get said item. A more easier way to get that gift for Hazel would have been just asking his father for money or using some of the bunch he had already given to him, but that wouldn’t feel right, the dark haired wanted to be the one responsible for the transaction, he wanted it to be his present for his little sister with eyes of gold.

Nico placed a hand under his chin, his free fingers absently producing tapping sounds as they bounced against the desk surface, noise that accompanied the rhythm of the digital clock placed on the wall behind him. An office job would have been a little more of his liking, although the idea of sitting on a chair in such a small space didn’t sound that appealing, at least in that scenario less social interaction was required.

His bored stare, which had been lost in space for an unknown amount of time, soon found itself focusing its attention on a figure with blond hair he was sure he could recognize everywhere by now. His somewhat curly bright locks jumped up a little with each step their owner took, making it look as if they were all waving along the beat of the music that invaded the area.

Nico hadn’t seen that pair of clear blue eyes in a while, almost two or three weeks if his memory didn’t fail him. _Will_ , his mind quickly provided him with a name he was able to identify that face with after one of the somewhat awkward conversations they both had after the other had approached him to ask about the prices of a rather huge variety of products he had somehow managed to stack in a pile.

The Italian couldn’t understand why the freckled blond spent so much time in the store, he didn’t particularly look like the type of person who would do that. He could still recall the first time he had seen him gone through the doorless entrance, eyes wandering around the area, seemingly looking for something he had yet to figure out. It had been during Nico’s second week at the position, the second week he had spent most of his shift hours wondering about the less painful way to die and if he would end up tied to the store as a ghost even then; he guessed not every single plan could be perfect.

Nico would be lying if he were to say it hadn’t been weird to someone of his age entering to the shop that one afternoon, especially a being that didn’t seem like on to frequent a place like the one he was working in. He thought it must have been a mistake, that the blond must have gotten a direction wrong or something of sorts and that he would soon turn around and leave, assumption that was quickly proved wrong as the other stepped further into the store, soon getting lost between shelves of newly organized merchandise.

The owner of the blue irises wandered around the shop for a few minutes, biting his bottom lip lightly as he thoughtfully looked through the catalog of options displayed in front of him, his glance shifting between collectibles and items of clothing that Nico honestly doubted were for him due to details like the designs as well as the obvious small size written on the tags attached to them all. His curiosity kicked in shortly after the third repetition of the routine, besides, everything was better than having to focus on the small cracks that were forming on the ceiling above his head.

Once almost half an hour had passed, the brown eyed started to get concerned, he might not really be that great at understanding any other human beings outside the ones he had already had the pleasure, or misfortune, to meet, but he would dare to say that those actions didn’t really read normal behavior. He wondered if the other person could be a thief. Sure, he had never actually seen a robbery take place in real life, but that could be a sign, couldn’t it? He groaned inside his head, as if the day couldn’t get worse or become more stressful.

Turns out, Nico discovered after the blue eyed decided to start a small conversation with him once he was done asking him a couple of questions about certain items, the guy wasn’t a robber but just a somewhat living being, one that apparently couldn’t sense the death glare he had been giving him during most of their talk. Clearly an odd person outside what he would consider an odd concept of normal, he really couldn’t be totally placed in a single category and yet he couldn’t truly fit in either of them at the same time.

Will, as he would proceed to call him after a considerable amount of encounters and small talks, would come to the shop rather frequently, or at least whenever Nico was working. The other boy would appear almost at the exact same time every day, wander around the shop, and approach the brown eyed to talk to him shortly after, turning a conversation that was initially about prices into a rather friendly one that wasn’t at all work related. Nico would be lying if he were to say that, after the fifth or so occasion, he viewed those moments as just an excuse to escape dying due to boredom behind the cash register.

The blond, however, had not showed up to their usual encounters for a couple of weeks now, fact that it had confused the Italian at first, emotion that quickly had turned into disappointment, not that he would ever say it out loud. Nico wondered if he had said something he shouldn’t, if perhaps the other had misinterpreted words that came out of his mouth, there had to be a reason for why he had been absent lately… Absent until just a couple of moments back.

He, Nico saw, despite not having been around for a while, continued as if nothing had changed, like the routine they had both established based on unspoken words hadn’t been interrupted at all whatsoever. The only difference though was the small child of short ginger hair that was tugging Will’s arm, forcing him to walk faster, a chuckle escaping his lips as the little girl dragged him further inside, an scene he had yet to seen until that specific moment.

The brown eyed felt himself freeze on his place as his glance landed on a pair of bluish irises, ones that were staring back at him, smiling softly in a quiet greeting. The veil of silence that apparently had fell over the environment, however, was broken by a high pitch giggle coming from, Nico could only assume, the kid that was grabbing one of the boy’s hand.

“Uh, hey…” Will said as he made his way to the desk that separated the both of them, the faint looking sunspots on displayed over his cheekbones contrasting against the soft shade of red that slowly started to spread along his cheeks.

Nico wasn’t sure exactly of how to answer, especially due to the hint of both nervousness and awkwardness he got to detected on the other’s words. He wasn’t certain how was he supposed to take that, what was he supposed to make out of that. _Perhaps_ , he thought, _you are indeed the reason behind that, maybe your lack of actual people skills caused this particular situation_.

The brown eyed didn’t know for how long he had been discussing with himself but the look on Will’s face told him that it probably was enough time for the blue eyed to regret even opening his mouth.

“Hello to you too…” Nico managed to say, somewhat hesitantly, as soon as he found within himself enough will force along with a decent thing to say, or at least words that sounded way better on his mind than out loud, he would rather say moments later. ”It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Will gave a small nod, the corners of his lips tugging up lightly, showing an emotion that the Italian felt soon after his companion spoke once again: relief. “Had some babysitting to do.”

Shortly after the words left the other’s mouth, he softly motioned with his head the small ginger girl with matching freckles that apparently had grown tired of holding someone else’s hands and proceeded to stand on his tiptoes to, rather enthusiastically, play with the top of the pens resting over the attention desk. The scene only served to make Will’s smile grow wider and fonder.

“This little ball of energy is my sister.” He continued with a grin, his voice not really causing any effect on the child, which had somehow managed to get some paper to doodle on. “Say hello, Kayla.”

Her name apparently did the trick since Nico soon found himself staring into a pair of somewhat greenish eyes, although the exact shade was rather difficult to spot due to the fact that she seemed to escape from the direct light coming from the ceiling with the small bouncing of her feet. Kayla, he thought, couldn’t be that much older than Hazel, if she even was, the little girl appeared to be somewhat small for her age if he recalled correctly the tiny details Will had said about his family when that topic had come up during one of their multiple conversations.

Nico wasn’t certain for how long their interaction had been simply just based on stares but he was sure when exactly that moment stopped: it was the exact same moment when he discovered it was possible to almost choke on saliva and air at the exact same time.

“Is this the guy you’ve been talking about for weeks?” He heard the voice of small little Kayla say and, although he knew the question was not directed at him, he couldn’t help but feel embarrassment crawling over his face in the form of blush.

“Why don’t you see if you want anything from here?” Will interrupted, clearly doing his best to avoid the question as well as the pair of brown eyes that were looking at him with a puzzled expression, quickly grabbing a catalog from one of the corners of the table and handing it to the younger girl, who ignored the other’s offer, continuing to speak.

“Is that a yes? Hi, my name’s Kayla, what’s yours? You work here? Is that why you hang out around here so often?” She inquired, the last part clearly directed at her older brother, a toothy grin on her face, a small black hole between some of his teeth now visible for everyone to see. Kayla then turned her attention back on the dark haired boy behind the cashier. Nico had never felt so intimidated by an actual child. “Will said we are here to find me a gift but I think he just wanted to see you.” The focus of her glance shifted again to the blond besides her. “Is that why you almost bumped into that mirror over there?”

“Alright, I think that’s enough, Kay…” Will mumbled under his breath, his cheeks a particularly bright shade of red, the brown eyed doubted his face was looking much better. Kayla simply just pouted, her bottom lip out slightly.

“But I was talking to…” She trailed off, apparently just now realizing that, in her mind, he had yet to have a name. Her narrowed eyes landed on the name tag on his shirt, confusion present on her features, not that Nico could blame her, his handwritten wasn’t really the easiest to read.

“Nico.” He complied, bringing the smile back to the little girl’s features.

“Didn’t you say you say you wanted to buy something for Austin too? I think I saw something he could like a few stores away from here.” Will said, clearly trying to play all of the cards he had left with the objective of leaving that certain topic of conversation behind for good.

Kayla nodded quickly, enthusiasm gleaming on his eyes as she took the forgotten catalog from her brother’s hands to then rushing towards one of the selves behind, seemingly attracted to one of the items that rested there.

“Sorry about that.” Nico heard the other said after a brief moment, his cheeks still a bright shade of red that apparently didn’t have any plans on going away any time soon.

He absently played with his skull ring, his mind going through all the possible ways the following scenes could play out as he tried to keep his stare focused on everything else but the blond individual in front of him. “It’s alright, I have a little sister as well so I know what it’s like.”

After what seemed like an eternity had passed, having his brain already thought about every single worst possible scenario his imagination could come up with, the brown eyed took a deep breath before hesitantly looking up at the blushing face of his companion, color that made the other’s freckles and sunspots stand out more. He wondered if it was possible to actually die of embarrassment.

Will cleared his throat, his voice shaking almost unnoticeably although Nico could still hear the hesitation of his vocal chords due to their proximity. “So, I was wondering… I know we really haven’t talk that much, or, well, not as much as I would like to and… I would like to know you better, perhaps in an environment where you look less pissed off at living beings in general?” The blond finished speaking as nervously as he had started, anxiously biting his bottom lip, a glint of hope glimmering on his clear blue eyes.

He wasn’t entirely sure of what strange force possessed him on that exact moment but the Italian soon found himself reaching for some unused piece of receipt that laid forgotten on the side, surface which he used to quickly, before he could even think about regretting his actions, scribble his phone number in the most clear handwriting he could manage.

“Here,” Nico said as he extended a slightly shaky hand at Will’s direction, waiting for the other to grab the offered item, which he didn’t take that longer to do “it’s free of charges.”

When Will smiled brightly at him he couldn’t help but wonder if the beat he could feel on his ears was the music coming out of the speakers or simply his fast beating heart.

**Author's Note:**

> [I'm also on tumblr](http://glowing-dimp-as-an-ember.tumblr.com/)


End file.
